INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS

REFINING

BETA GROUP let contract to Badger BY, Cambridge, Mass., for project management to recommission Beta's 160,000 b/sd refinery in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Start-up is scheduled in September or October, Badger designed and built the refinery in the mid 1970s for Mobil Corp., which sold it to Beta last November.

INDIA'S government asked Indian Oil Corp. for a detailed feasibility study of installing a catalytic reformer at Mathura refinery as part of efforts to reduce lead content of gasoline. The government also approved Madras Refineries Ltd.'s project to install a crude distillation unit at the Panangudi refinery to process increasing crude production from the onshore Cauvery basin.

EXPLORATION

HADSON ENERGY RESOURCES CORP., Oklahoma City, acquired from Hamilton Oil (Bunyu) Corp. increased working interests in the Bunyu production sharing contract off Northeast Kalimantan, Indonesia, in exchange for a net profits interest. Hadson increased its working interest to 28.75% from 3.75% in the western area and to 8.75% from 3.75% in the eastern area of the block.

TULLOW OIL PLC of Ireland acquired an exploration license covering Block 25 in Pakistan's Middle Indus basin, east of Quetta in Baluchistan province. The 6,200 sq km block contains the Khattan oil seep area and is close to Sui, Loti, Pirkoh, and Jandran gas fields. In the first 3 year phase of the license, Tullow will conduct field geological studies, acquire seismic data, and drill at least one well.

ESSO REP put its wildcat on La Marsange permit, 35 km east of Paris, on production at 350 b/d from Triassic sand at 7,620-51 ft.

SHELL EXPLORATION BY signed a 25 year production sharing contract with the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines covering exploration in the Lake Izabel area of eastern Guatemala. Shell has the option to drop the contract after the first 3 year period of seismic and drilling. Operations will be controlled by Shell Explorada y Productora de Guatemala.

INDIA'S Oil & Natural Gas Commission 1 BS-13 flowed 10.4 MMcfd of gas and 236 b/d of condensate off Bombay. The discovery well, drilled to basaltic basement at 6,578 ft, is 22 km west of South Bassein gas field, which produces 371 MMcfd. ONGC estimates the BS-13 structure, in 230 ft of water, has potential to produce 700 MMcfd to 1.2 bcfd.

GAS PROCESSING

GAS AUTHORITY OF INDIA LTD. commissioned a gas processing plant at Bijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. It can recover 8,000 b/d of liquefied petroleum gases.

DRILLING-PRODUCTION

CS RESOURCES LTD., Calgary, plans to drill about 40 horizontal wells in Alberta and Saskatchewan under its $17 million 1991 capital spending plan. CS currently has two rigs drilling horizontal wells in Saskatchewan.

PETRO-CANADA INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE CORP. will provide as much as $2.9 million to support a cooperative drilling program in Barbados by Barbados National Oil Co. that is planned for completion by yearend. Of that total, Petro-Canada will fund as much as 35% of BNOC's total cost of $6 million worth of Canadian oil field equipment for a planned 26 well Barbados drilling program. The balance will come from a Canada Export Development Corp. loan

EIGHT PARTNERS in Statfjord oil and gas field in the Norwegian North Sea are seeking relief of $141 million in royalties from Norway's government. Units of Amoco Corp., Amerada Hess, Enterprise Oil plc, Exxon Corp., Conoco Inc., Mobil Oil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Saga Petroleum AS say negative returns on landed price of Statfjord gas in western Europe can be offset against royalties on Statfjord oil production. Norway says oil and gas royalties should be paid separately.

CIA. GENERAL DE COMBUSTIBLES, Buenos Aires, gauged a combined flow of more than 4,000 b/d of oil from recompletions of a wildcat and a confirmation well on a 62,500 acre concession in Formosa province, Argentina. Work is under way on a third well, reported partner Global Natural Resources Inc., Houston. Global and CGC each holds a 25% interest in the wells and the concession. Other partners aren't disclosed.

SANTOS LTD. 9 Pondrinie appraisal well in South Australia flowed 7.95 MMcfd of gas through a 1/2 in. choke from Triassic Callamurra at 7,112-32 ft and 304 b/d of oil and 3.73 MMcfd of gas through a 112 in. choke from Triassic Wimma at 6,680-6,705 ft. Site is on the Merrimelia Innamincka block of PEL 5 and 6.

PIPELINES

EUROPEAN MARINE CONTRACTORS LTD. will spend 920 million ($10.1 million) to refit and upgrade its Castoro 6 and Semac 1 semisubmersible pipelay barges to improve pipelay capabilities and meet requirements of the Norwegian Maritime Directorate.

COMPANIES

ZAPATA CORP., Houston, will receive $12.8 million cash Mar. 20 to settle a claim with Bolivia's state oil company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos over nonpayment of gas revenues. Zapata had claimed YPFB expropriated its 25% interest in 1.268 million acres of leases by refusing to pay for gas deliveries. Zapata will retain its interest in those leases, which include La Vertiente gas field.

SHELL CANADA LTD. plans to spend $1.4 billion the next 5 years to modernize its Canadian refining/marketing operations. The program, concentrated in major cities, could result in closure or sale of as many as 2,000 of its 3,500 retail outlets and construction of 1,500 new ones by 1996. The company will spend about $900 million on service stations and $500 million upgrading refineries in Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal, and Sarnia, Ont.

APCO ARGENTINA INC., Tulsa, is studying interests of potential buyers for possible sale of the company, which operates Entre Lomas concession in Argentina. Argentina's government earlier agreed to deregulate Entre Lomas field oil production, allowing it to be sold at market prices (OGJ, Feb. 11, p. 42).

AMPOL EXPLORATION LTD., Sydney, acquired Western Mining Corp. Ltd.'s 37.5% interest in Cooper/Eromanga basin permits in South Australia for an undisclosed sum. Interests cover the 7,636 sq km East Patchawarra block on PEL 5 and 6, directly north of the Moomba gas processing plant. There is no production, but oil was discovered at Cuttapirrie and James and gas at Cuttapirrie, Beanbush, Coonatie, and Moolion. Ampol is eyeing Jurassic and Permian prospects, including relatively untried pinchout traps.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.